The Green Contingency

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.

  Organizational Culture   Sustainability  

When I began my research on an article for this month’s theme of sustainability, global diversity and green, I decided to contact a few project managers to pick their brains. I was in no way prepared for the 90-degree change that I would be faced with given the theme and those conversations. I did not expect discussions about green and sustainability from the standpoint of concerns over the environmental impact of projects--and the impact of those conscious about being green and environmentally concerned could have (and in some cases actually already have had) on projects. After thinking over these conversations, I could not resist writing about green and sustainability from that perspective.

Going green and being environmentally conscious is simply making certain decisions about the way we conduct our business that is designed to function in a more eco-friendly manor. It means acting--not just talking--about being more environmentally aware.

To do that, you must adapt and change your behavior and operational style to reduce the amount of pollution and waste you generate as you go about your normal day-to-day operations. Being green and environmentally conservative--while not mandated in most cases--is just a good business practice. Now let’s take a look at the potential and some actual negative project implications of being green and environmentally …

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